Zahoor Ahmad Dar – författare

Maize (Zea mays L.) in Cold: Journey Across Latitudes presents a compelling exploration of how one of the world’s most vital crops has expanded from its tropical origins to endure and thrive in cold and temperate regions. As agriculture increasingly faces the challenges of climate variability and low temperature extremes, this book offers a timely and comprehensive scientific account of maize’s resilience to chilling stress.Structured across seven in-depth chapters, the book takes readers through the core biology of maize, its latitudinal journey from the tropics to cooler climates, and a focused examination of what constitutes low temperature (LT) stress in maize. It further explores the physiological, biochemical, and genetic adjustments maize undergoes to cope with cold, and highlights emerging trends and scientific advancements aimed at improving maize performance under such stress, including seed priming, molecular interventions, and breeding strategies.Intended for researchers, maize breeders, plant biologists, agronomists, and postgraduate students, this volume also offers valuable insights for agricultural planners and policymakers working in cold-prone agro-climatic zones.Dr. Salika Ramazan, a low temperature stress biologist with a decade-long association with maize, brings together field expertise and academic depth to narrate the untold story of maize’s adaptation across latitudes. Her work connects the scientific understanding of cold stress biology with practical innovations to strengthen maize production under challenging climates.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the principles, methods, and applications of DNA-based crop variety identification, serving as a crucial resource for geneticists, plant breeders, seed technologists, and researchers in agricultural biotechnology.Beginning with the foundations of DNA technology and molecular markers, the book walks readers through the entire process of crop variety identification—from PCR-based markers, SNP genotyping, and DNA barcoding, to cutting-edge methods such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) and CRISPR-based diagnostics. Special chapters focus on DNA barcoding of phytopathogens, multi-locus profiling, and genetic diversity estimation, offering insights into molecular diagnostics and varietal characterization.The book presents case studies in major crops such as rice, wheat, maize, pulses, rapeseed-mustard, and horticultural crops, highlighting national and global efforts in DNA fingerprinting and varietal authentication. It further discusses the role of bioinformatics tools, statistical genetics, and quality assurance in seed purity testing, integrating classical and modern approaches for accurate varietal discrimination.Emphasis is laid on challenges in DNA-based identification, including issues of cost, infrastructure, and technical expertise, while proposing integrative solutions that combine DNA tools with conventional field-based methods. The final chapters outline the future prospects of molecular marker technologies in ensuring varietal integrity, enhancing crop improvement programs, and supporting legal and intellectual property frameworks.This book is an invaluable reference for students, researchers, and policymakers working towards genomic-assisted agriculture and seed system transparency.

Development of superior crops that have consistent performance in quality and in quantity has not received the same emphasis in the field of genetics and breeding as merited. Specialty trait requires special focus to propagate. Yet basic germplasm and breeding methodologies optimized to improve crops are often applied in the development of improved specialty types. However, because of the standards required for specialty traits, methods of development and improvement are usually more complex than those for common commodity crops. The same standards of performance are desired, but the genetics of the specialty traits often impose breeding criteria distinct from those of non-specialty possessing crops. Specifically, quality improvement programs have unique characteristics that require careful handling and monitoring during their development for specific needs. Adding value either via alternative products from the large volumes of grain produced or development of specialty types is of interest to producers and processors.  This work assimilates the most topical results about quality improvement with contemporary plant breeding approaches.The objective of this book is to provide a summary of the germplasm, methods of development, and specific problems involved for quality breeding. In total, fourteen chapters, written by leading scientists involved in crop improvement research, provide comprehensive coverage of the major factors impacting specialty crop improvement.

Through this book, we bring into one volume the various important aspects of maize improvement and the recent technological advances in development of maize genotypes with high yield, high quality and resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses